Celso to Senate Defense Committee: GRP-MILF talks can proceed but…
Senator Rodolfo Biazon, chair of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security presides over the hearing on the proposed temporary suspension on the resumption of the peace talks at the Garden Orchid Hotel Friday morning as Mayor Celso Lobregat and District I Congresswoman Beng Climaco listen intently.
Mayor Celso Lobregat has opined that the resumption of peace negotiations between the national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) may push through provided the MILF leaders who will be brought to the negotiating table are not involved in any terroristic or criminal activity.
“Zamboanga City is really for a just and lasting peace in Mindanao and not for appeasement at the expense of the republic,” Mayor Lobregat stressed during a public hearing conducted here yesterday by the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security chaired by Sen. Rodolfo G. Biazon.
In fact, he said, those MILF leaders who are found guilty of criminal acts should be brought to justice the soonest possible time.
Lobregat also pointed out that the renewed peace talks should not be devolved anymore on the controversial memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) as it had already been declared “unconstitutional and contrary to law” no less by the Supreme Court.
Instead, the mayor suggested to Biazon’s committee that any approach to solving the armed conflict in Mindanao must be localized in which the national government itself should talk (consult) directly to the local government units concerned.
More importantly, Lobregat said the government should push for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration or DDR in the peace negotiations with the MILF even as he hinted that the MILF cannot rightfully claim to be a true representative of the Filipino Muslims.
He said the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), founded and led by former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Nur Misuari, was the original representative of the Muslims in the Philippines as recognized by the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
At the same time, Lobregat flatly slammed suggestions for Malaysia to broker the GRP-MILF talks, saying Malaysia could have its own vested interest. “Why not Indonesia?” he asked in a statement, apparently in support of Misuari’s view against Malaysia.
On the ceasefire issue, he said it should be explained properly to the ground. According to him, the Basilan incident last August 12 could not have had happened if the MILF were not involved as it appeared the group’s hierarchy has no control over its members on the field. The incident resulted in the death of 23 soldiers including two commissioned officers.
For her part, Congresswoman Beng Climaco-Salazar, herself an advisor to the government peace panel, favored the resumption of the GRP-MILF talks. “We allow the peace process to progress without jeopardizing though the ongoing police/military action against the criminality perpetrated by any rebel group whether MILF, MNLF or Abu Sayyaf Group,” she told the Senate defense committee.
Biazon’s committee hearing here yesterday was triggered by his proposed Senate Resolution No. 1281 “Expressing the Sense of the Senate for the Suspension of the Resumption of the Peace Talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the privilege speech he delivered in the Senate last August 17 regarding the “bloody encounter in Basilan” and the privilege speech delivered by Sen. Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. last August 19 titled “Place in Our Times for Muslim Mindanao, for the Republic.”
Also in attendance were Basilan Gov. Jum Akbar, Vice Gov. Emmanuel Pinol of North Cotabato, Dr. Grace Rebollos, president of the Western Mindanao State University, Christian Olasiman, president of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Student Council, Joseph Van Bue, president of the WMSU Student Council, Fr. Eliseo Mercado, convenor of Kusog Mindanao, and Vice Mayor Mannix Dalipe, among others.
Reports disclosed the GRP-MILF peace panels had acknowledged the MOA-AD as unsigned and yet initialled document and committed to reframe the consensus points with the end in view of moving towards the comprehensive peace accord. (Vic Larato)